Just this morning, a few things touched me and made my day. All this happened while doing daily errands. First, in the bank, an elderly woman handed the bank manager a festive Christmas sack. He put his hand on her back and thanked her warmly. She smiled, and her face lit up like a little child as she said ‘I just baked that this morning.’ It’s been since I was a child that people did such things at Christmas. How wonderful.

Then in the grocery as I was sacking my groceries, an elderly gentleman sitting on a bench at the front of the store remarked on the dog toy I had just purchased for the dogs. It’s a silly Christmas tree with a reindeer head and arms that plays Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. It caught his fancy and he proceeded to tell me about a toy he had for his dog; a frog with Louis Armstrong’s voice. I passed him the dog toy and he smiled as he held it to his ear and listened to its silly song.

Just outside the grocery another elderly woman took one look at me and admonished “WHAT? No hat on your head? What are ya, crazy?” As the wind blew hard, dry snowflakes at my face and I felt the frigid arctic blast that is just now arriving in New Jersey, I realized she was right. I really should have a hat on. She meant it kindly you know. She was just looking out for my well being.

I love living in a small town.

Yes, and old people are so awesome! Mostly in our culture, we make fun of our elders, something you would never do in other places or times. Thank you for your salute to their wisdom and warmth. We’re all headed in that direction, after all!